The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2021 13 international security affairs and under secretary of State for civil security, democ- racy and human rights, respectively. Ambassador (ret.) William Burns, an FSO for 33 years and a former Deputy Secretary of State, is Biden’s choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency. As many around the world asked “Who Is Bill Burns?” the two interviews he did with the FSJ (November 2014 and May 2019) have been viewed hundreds of times and quoted and linked to by many media out- lets, including Fox News, Indian Express, Asia Times and Russia Matters. Biden Administration Brings Sweeping Changes P resident Biden made good on a cam- paign promise by rejoining the Paris Climate Accord on his first day in office, Jan. 20. In 2017, then-President Donald Trump had pulled the United States out of the accord, which was adopted in 2015. Biden has made combating climate change a central task of his administra- tion. He appointed former Secretary of State John Kerry as his special presiden- tial envoy for climate, a new cabinet- level position. Also within his first days in office, Biden signed an executive order revers- ing Trump’s 2020 decision to pull out of the World Health Organization. Additionally, the State Department instructed U.S. embassies and consul- ates that visa restrictions on more than a dozen Muslim-majority and African countries “are no longer applicable,” The Washington Post reported on Jan. 21, reversing policies set by Trump. Among more than 30 executive orders during his first week in office, Biden reversed Trump’s ban from last September on federally funded diversity training. Contemporary Quote What Joe Biden is proposing and what I am reinforcing as the national security adviser is that every element of what we do in our foreign policy and national security ultimately has to be measured by the impact it has on working families, middle-class people, ordinary Americans. —National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in a Dec. 30 NPR interview. [Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken] inherits a great department and many men and women who have dedicated their lives to the security of the United States of America. They are representing this country and literally risking their lives to do so. It is his job, and he understands it, to thank them for their efforts and to make sure that the morale is at the highest level so that America continues to be well represented around the world. —Senator James Risch (R-Idaho), then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, during the Jan. 21 confirmation hearing. Mr. Blinken is just the right person to rebuild and reassert America’s national security prerogatives on the national stage and reestablish the first instrument of American power: diplomacy. —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Jan. 26, just ahead of the vote to confirm the new Secretary of State. I am confident that, if confirmed, you will do everything you can to repair and restore American leadership abroad. Foundational to that effort will be rebuilding and reinvigorating the State Depart- ment itself. As you well know, our career foreign and civil servants are incredibly talented and dedicated. Over the past few years, however, they have been treated with disdain, smeared and forced out of public service. There has been a stunning loss of expertise, steep declines in morale, little account- ability for those at the top, and the State Depart- ment still has not achieved a workforce that comes close to reflecting the diversity of our country. This state of affairs has impacted relationships across the globe, the department’s ability to engage in the interagency process, and its relationship with Congress. So, the chal- lenges you will be facing are immense, but I have confidence in your experience and expertise. —Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), then ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, during the Jan. 21 confirmation hearing. HEARD ON THE HILL JOSH